Academic Honesty Policy

Parental / Student Agreement

The well being of the school community depends on each student’s accepting responsibility for his or her personal conduct in both social and academic endeavors. In this regard, students are expected to attend Haddon Heights High School ready to learn and in their learning demonstrate the ability to discern right from wrong. A student’s moral awareness as it applies to the academic environment is foundational to his or her success at Haddon Heights High School where the student must engage in an honest and integral pursuit of knowledge. Academic honesty requires that students produce work that is their own work. In contrast, academic dishonesty is a student’s attempt to claim and show possession of knowledge and/or skills that he or she does not possess. Whether or not a student intends to cheat or deceive is irrelevant. The Academic Honesty Policy addresses behaviors. The student’s mindset cannot be observed; consequently, the policy applies to behaviors and actions which are academically dishonest. Students will face disciplinary action based on their behaviors, not based upon what they “intended” to do.

Academic Dishonesty

The following actions are reflective of academic dishonesty and are subject to disciplinary action by teacher, school, and/or district. Some offenses may be criminal in nature and therefore prosecutable under local, state, or federal laws.

Cheating is giving, using or attempting to use unauthorized materials, information, notes, study aids or other devices in any academic exercise including unauthorized communication of information. Examples of cheating include copying from another student’s paper; receiving and/or providing unauthorized assistance during a quiz, test or examination; sharing information about an exam with classmates in advance of the test; using books, notes or other devices such as calculators when these are not authorized; acquiring without authorization copies of tests or examinations before the scheduled exercise; copying/lending homework, reports, laboratory work, computer programs, files from other students, storing data on programmable calculators and retrieving the data to assist during an exam.

Fabrication / falsification is the unauthorized alteration or invention of any information or citation in an academic exercise. Examples of fabrication include inventing or counterfeiting data or lab procedures or utilizing translation software or internet translation sites (i.e. Babblefish) to complete tasks in foreign language. Examples of falsification include the false citation of a source of information; altering grade reports or other academic records; altering a returned examination paper and seeking a better grade; or forging a parent signature on a returned test or assignment.

Tampering is interfering with, altering or attempting to alter school records, grades, assignments, laboratory experiments or other documents without authorization. Examples of tampering include using a computer or false-written document to change or affect a grade; erasing records or information of a student; unauthorized access to a high school record by computer or unauthorized entry into an office or file; or obtaining information from the high school without proper authorization.

Plagiarism is presenting the work of another as one’s own without proper acknowledgment. Examples of plagiarism include submitting as your own work the work of another student; the use of a ghost writer, commercial writing service or extensive help* from a tutor or parent; downloading and submitting a paper from a web site; directly quoting from a source without acknowledgment; paraphrasing or summarizing another’s work without acknowledging the source; or using facts, figures, graphs, charts or information without acknowledging the source. Plagiarism may occur orally or in writing and may involve computer programs and files, research designs, distinctive figures of speech, ideas and images or any other information that belongs to another person and is not acknowledged as such. Inadvertent or unintentional misuse of another’s work (such as relying heavily on source material that is not expressly acknowledged) is still considered plagiarism.

Other Academic Misconduct – Examples of academic misconduct include allowing another student to copy from one’s paper during an examination or test; distributing test questions or substantive information about the material to be covered on a test before the exam; collaborating on work with the knowledge that the collaboration will not be reported; or taking an examination or test for another student or signing a false name on an exam or paper.

*Parents or tutors may dialogue with a student concerning an assignment, but may not do the assignment for the student.

Responsibilities of Students, Parents, Teachers, and Administrators

The Student is expected to uphold the spirit and the letter of this policy both philosophically and behaviorally in completing all school-related tests, quizzes, projects, reports, homework assignments or in-class assignments. The student is to not represent as his own the work of a parent, brother, sister, or anyone else. It is the student’s responsibility to know the academic behaviors which are acceptable and which are dishonest and constitute a violation of the academic honesty policy. It is also the student’s responsibility to learn how to attribute work properly by citation, footnote, and bibliography. No assignment is exempted from this policy.

The Parent is expected to adopt the philosophical wholesomeness of this policy and uphold the spirit and the letter of it by reviewing it with his or her child and encouraging the child to practice academic honesty throughout the student’s years at Haddon Heights High School.

The Teacher is expected to review with the students the policy of academic honesty at the beginning of each marking period and other times during the year as he or she deems it appropriate. The teacher is expected to teach the skills necessary to prevent a violation of academic integrity. The teacher is also expected to enforce the policy in all instances of academic dishonesty following the process as outlined below.

The Administrator is expected to support the spirit of academic honesty with students, parents, counselors, teachers and other staff members in conferences and in each classroom. Disciplinary action taken with students concerning the Academic Honesty Policy will follow the process as outlined below.

Process for Disciplinary Action

The process whereby a student will be held responsible for infractions of the Academic Honesty Policy shall include the following steps:

The teacher of the class will confront the student where the infraction occurs.

The student will receive an automatic zero (failing grade) on the assignment or test; no make-up work will be offered to compensate for the zero.

The administration will be informed via written referral.

The teacher will contact the parent to state the issue, review this policy, and explain disciplinary consequences.

Disciplinary action may be affected by the school with the possible actions listed below.

Infractions will be recorded on the student’s discipline file for the school year.

Disciplinary Action For Student Violation Of the Academic Honesty Policy

If a student is referred to the administration for a violation of the Academic Honesty Policy, the infraction becomes a part of the student’s disciplinary record and appropriate discipline will be enforced. Teachers and administrators reserve the right to respond to the violation of the academic honesty policy with one or more actions of varying severity. These may include temporary suspension or permanent removal of the student from the class or special program depending on the nature of the infraction and the number of previous infractions. Consequences for a student’s involvement in an act of academic dishonesty will include one or more of the following actions:

The National Honor Society (NHS) will be notified of the infraction and the student may be required to appear before the faculty committee representing the NHS if the student is a member of that organization or is eligible for membership in the NHS.

The student may receive an administrative intervention or a plan.

The student may face suspension from Haddon Heights High School;

The student may be removed from the course with a grade of “F” (failure).

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